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Ordered the washu with Plum Blossoms, and wanted "Hax" or the phonetic equivalent in Kanji as my personal handle is Hax the Cook. (Stephen King reference for reading fans) Made the original order in January with half down, and the blade was actually finished about a month ago. Price seemed more than fair considering the unique status of the knife. Mr. Broida's lovely wife researched and offered two possibilites for Hax, with a detailed description of what the individual characters meant in both options. Once I made my wishes clear, the work was performed flawlessly on the blade; I was almost hesitant to actually cut anything for fear of spoiling the artwork!

OOTB the blade is perfectly ground and sharpened down to about 15-16 degrees on a side. The edge did need to be run across a finishing stone, I purchased a stone rack with a little plastic water dish to hold the ruby and natural finishing stone I bought from Son a couple of months ago. I ran it up and down the wetted ruby side with 4 push sharpening strokes before moving the blade perpendicularly on the stone and working my way across the blade. I was wondering how much effect I was having on the edge, then noticed my fingers were bleeding! I flipped the stone over to the natural stone, and got it scary sharp. In retrospect, I should have had Jon put an edge on it to see the true epitome the blade is capable of, but the cleaver currently is the sharpest knife I have ever worked with. I asked for a rounded choi and a rounded top of the blade with the exception of the first 2 inches from the end of the blade, (ever notch a lobster claw?) andthis was executed perfectly.

The blade was delivered with a wooden blade guard that tied on to make it secure, I wish I had one of these with the heavier Kaji damascus I bought earlier this year. I dropped the leather case that it was in, and that beast cut through the leather and put a big chip right at the juncture of the blade and the choi. I have since had the Kaji reground with a 20 degree bevel, it is much heavier (795 gms vs. 485 gms) than the Gesshin. In a Chinese kitchen the cooks will have a light thin cleaver, a heavier version, and a long thin paring knife and THAT IS THEIR KIT. The Kaji will be used for actual chopping and whacking, with the Gesshin a true slicer with a godawful sharp edge.

I am overjoyed with the knife I bought from Jon at JKI, and would heartily reccommend his fine service to anyone wanting a true masterpiece knife. I am wiping off the washu ater use, and I cannot speak to patina yet, but I am as happy as I can be with the blade.

Hax the Cook CLEAVERS RULE!!!

A barbeque believer will not profane pork by boiling, liquid-smoking, submeging in sous-vide, or affirm with those who do.